{"id":26558,"date":"2025-06-19T16:15:42","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T16:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/?p=26558"},"modified":"2025-06-19T16:15:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T16:15:43","slug":"draw-a-lewis-structure-for-the-tetrachloraluminate-ionalcl4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/draw-a-lewis-structure-for-the-tetrachloraluminate-ionalcl4\/","title":{"rendered":"Draw a Lewis structure for the tetrachloraluminate ion,[AlCl4]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Draw a Lewis structure for the tetrachloraluminate ion,[AlCl4]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. This ion can be considered as a combination of and . What kind of bond joins and in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lewis Structure of the Tetrachloroaluminate Ion [AlCl4]\u2212[ \\text{AlCl}_4 ]^-[AlCl4\u200b]\u2212<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The tetrachloroaluminate ion [AlCl4]\u2212[ \\text{AlCl}_4 ]^-[AlCl4\u200b]\u2212 is formed by combining an aluminum ion Al3+\\text{Al}^{3+}Al3+ and four chloride ions Cl\u2212\\text{Cl}^-Cl\u2212.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Steps to Draw the Lewis Structure:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n
Count total valence electrons:<\/strong>
Aluminum (Al) has 3 valence electrons.<\/li>
Each chloride (Cl) atom has 7 valence electrons, and there are four Cl atoms.<\/li>
The ion has an overall charge of -1, which means one extra electron is added.<\/li><\/ul>So, total valence electrons = 3\u00a0(from\u00a0Al)+4\u00d77\u00a0(from\u00a0Cl)+1\u00a0(extra)=323 \\text{ (from Al)} + 4 \\times 7 \\text{ (from Cl)} + 1 \\text{ (extra)} = 323\u00a0(from\u00a0Al)+4\u00d77\u00a0(from\u00a0Cl)+1\u00a0(extra)=32 electrons<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Place the central atom and connect ligands:<\/strong>\n
\n
Put Al in the center since it is less electronegative.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Connect each of the four Cl atoms to Al using a single bond (4 bonds = 8 electrons).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Distribute remaining electrons to complete octets:<\/strong>\n
\n
Each Cl needs 6 more electrons to complete an octet (6 \u00d7 4 = 24 electrons).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
We have used all 32 electrons: 8 for bonds and 24 for lone pairs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Check the octet rule:<\/strong>\n
\n
Each Cl has 8 electrons (2 from bond + 6 lone electrons).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Al has 8 electrons from the four single bonds (it can accommodate only 6 in neutral AlCl\u2083, but here the ion is stable with 8 due to negative charge delocalization).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Final structure:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
Al is at the center with single bonds to four Cl atoms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Each Cl has three lone pairs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
The overall ion has a charge of -1, placed outside the brackets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Nature of Bond Between Al and Cl:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The bond between aluminum and chloride in [AlCl4]\u2212[ \\text{AlCl}_4 ]^-[AlCl4\u200b]\u2212 is a coordinate covalent bond<\/strong> or dative bond<\/strong>. Aluminum starts with only 3 valence electrons and lacks a complete octet. When each chloride ion donates one of its lone pairs to form a bond with Al, the bonds are coordinate covalent in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, [AlCl4]\u2212[ \\text{AlCl}_4 ]^-[AlCl4\u200b]\u2212 is a stable complex ion where the Al\u2013Cl bonds are covalent, but they originate from lone pair donation, making them coordinate covalent bonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Draw a Lewis structure for the tetrachloraluminate ion,[AlCl4] . This ion can be considered as a combination ofand. What kind of bond joinsandin The Correct Answer and Explanation is: Lewis Structure of the Tetrachloroaluminate Ion [AlCl4]\u2212[ \\text{AlCl}_4 ]^-[AlCl4\u200b]\u2212 The tetrachloroaluminate ion [AlCl4]\u2212[ \\text{AlCl}_4 ]^-[AlCl4\u200b]\u2212 is formed by combining an aluminum ion Al3+\\text{Al}^{3+}Al3+ and four chloride […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quiz-questions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26570,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26558\/revisions\/26570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaviki.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"